Thursday, January 10, 2013

Today's Headlines

Posted by Gary .....at 3:24 PM
Bloomberg: 
  • Euro Climbs as ECB Sees Recovery. The euro gained the most in five months versus the dollar as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the economy should gradually recover and the decision to refrain from cutting interest rates was unanimous. The 17-nation currency climbed to the strongest since July 2011 against the yen after Spain sold more than the maximum target at its first debt auction of the year, adding to signs the region’s financial crisis is easing.
  • Consumer Comfort Drops as Americans Brace for Payroll Tax Boost. Consumer confidence in the U.S. slumped last week to the lowest level in a month as Americans prepared to lose a portion of their pay to taxes. The Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index fell to minus 34.4 in the seven days ended Jan. 6 from minus 31.8 the prior period, the biggest one-week drop since August. All three components of the measure declined. Paychecks will shrink after Congress agreed last week to let the payroll tax that funds Social Security benefits revert to 6.2 percent from 4.2 percent. With spending power diminished, Americans will have to rely on increases in salaries to counter some of the lost income just as the economy is struggling to strengthen.
  • Brazil Consumer Prices Rise More Than Forecast in December. Brazil’s consumer prices in December rose more than economists forecast, as government efforts to revive economic growth spark price increases. Prices as measured by the IPCA index rose 0.79 percent in December, the national statistics agency said today in Rio de Janeiro. The median estimate from 34 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for a 0.74 percent increase. Annual inflation quickened to 5.84 percent from 5.53 percent in November, compared with a forecast of 5.79 percent from 30 economists surveyed.
  • Gold Climbs to One-Week High as Draghi Sees Weakness. Gold rose to a one-week high after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said economic weakness in the region will continue, boosting speculation that policy makers will do more to revive growth. “The economic weakness in the euro area is expected to extend into 2013,” Draghi said at a press conference in Frankfurt today.
  • Oil Rises to Three-Month High as China Exports Accelerate. Oil rose to the highest level in three months as exports from China accelerated in December and European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said “a gradual recovery should start” in the region this year. Crude oil for February delivery gained 86 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $93.96 a barrel at 11:17 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange after climbing to $94.70, the highest intraday level since Sept. 19. Trading volume was 84 percent more than the 100-day average.
  • Bats CEO Says Software Problems a Symptom of Too-Complex Market. The software problem that caused Bats Global Markets Inc. to allow trades in violation of rules is a symptom of overly complex market regulations that should be simplified, Chief Executive Officer Joseph Ratterman said. Bats discovered the problem on Jan. 4 through routine inspections conducted by its operations department looking for anomolies in transactions and how the exchange handles orders, Ratterman said in a telephone interview.
  • Tiffany(TIF) Sees Profit at Low End of Forecast on Weak Sales. Tiffany & Co. (TIF), the world’s second- largest luxury jewelry retailer, said full-year earnings will be at the low end of its forecast after holiday sales growth slowed in the Americas and Asia. The shares fell. Sales in November and December rose 4 percent to $992 million worldwide, the New York-based company said today in a statement. That was slower than the 7 percent gain Tiffany recorded in the same period a year earlier.
  • EU Sees Google(GOOG) Diverting Web Traffic From Rivals, FT Says. European Union antitrust regulators believe Google Inc.'s search engine diverts Web traffic from competitors, the Financial Times reported today, citing an interview with EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. Almunia told the newspaper he is convinced that Google diverts traffic and may be abusing its dominant position in the search market.
  • Cantor May Face Another Ratings Cut as Fitch Cites Slump. Cantor Fitzgerald LP, the brokerage whose credit rating was cut twice last year, faces another potential downgrade amid a slump in trading, Fitch Ratings said.
  • Fed’s Bullard Sees Difficulty Tying QE to Economic Levels. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said it may be difficult to tie the central bank’s $85 billion monthly bond purchases to numerical levels of unemployment and inflation. After settling a debate over how long to hold interest rates near zero, Fed officials are debating when to halt their purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. At its December meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee agreed to hold the target interest rate near zero so long as unemployment remains above 6.5 percent and inflation stays below 2.5 percent.
Wall Street Journal: 
  • Bombings in Pakistan Kill Over 100. A series of bombings in different parts of Pakistan killed 103 people Thursday, including 69 who died in a sectarian attack on a bustling billiard hall in the southwest city of Quetta, officials said.
CNBC:
  • Farr: Crying Wolf May Make Markets Complacent. Aggressive monetary and fiscal policies have forced so much money into the economy; it has become impossible to determine how much of our modest economic growth is organic and how much may be the result of the trillions of dollars of government injections.
Business Insider:
c/net:
  • Apple's(AAPL) Cook talks 'cooperation' with iPhone-less China Mobile. Apple CEO Tim Cook is in China talking with the country's largest carrier. A China Mobile spokesman told Reuters today that Cook visited the carrier's headquarters this morning to meet with Chairman Xi Guohua and discuss "matters of cooperation." The person would not divulge the nature of those discussions and what the companies might cooperate on.
WallSt.CheatSheet:
  • Optimism rebounded strongly, as pessimism dropped in the latest AAII Sentiment Survey. Bullish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will rise over the next six months, jumped 7.7 percentage points to 46.4%. This matches the short-term high set on December 20, 2012. Bullish sentiment is also above its historical average of 39% for the sixth time in seven weeks. Bearish sentiment, expectations that stock prices will fall over the next six months, fell 9.3 percentage points to 26.9%. Though the magnitude of the increase is steep, it only puts pessimism at a three-week low. Bearish sentiment is also below its historical average of 30.5% for the fourth time in five weeks.
Reuters: 
  • US Fed policy might trigger bubbles, inflation -George. The Federal Reserve might be contributing to the next asset price bubble through its aggressive purchase of bonds to spur U.S. growth, while its near-zero interest rates could trigger future inflation, a senior Fed official said on Thursday. Kansas City Federal Reserve President Esther George, in remarks that will clearly stamp her as a hawk on the U.S. central bank's policy-setting committee, went out of her way to make clear she is not comfortable with recent Fed action. "A prolonged period of zero interest rates may substantially increase the risks of future financial imbalances and hamper attainment of the FOMC's 2 percent inflation goal in the future," she said.
  • German parliament group warns Britain against "blackmail" on EU. The head of the German parliament's influential European Union Affairs Committee warned Britain on Thursday against trying to "blackmail" other countries in its push to fashion a new relationship with Europe.
Telegraph:
China National Radio:
  • Chinese cities including Wuhan, Xi'an and Hefei will introduce a property leasing tax.

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